1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a straw-equipped liquid drink container, wherein the container is equipped with a straw in such a manner that the straw is insertable into and/or withdrawable from the container as required.
This invention is suitable especially for sports drinks to be taken mainly by those who are playing sports.
The present invention is directed to beverage straws for use in containers of beverages when shipped wherein the straw contains on its exterior a miniature of the container and wherein the straw and minicontainer may be removed from the container when the contents have been consumed.
The present invention relates generally to a container having a drinking tube incorporated therein and, more particularly, to a beverage container having a pop-up drinking dispensing tube.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently, beverage containers are manufactured, fitted and sealed in a high-speed automated process. This process includes manufacturing a separate body for containing the fluid or beverage and a separate lid for sealing the open end of the body. During manufacture of the beverage container, a manufacturing operation known as "seaming" 0 places the lid on a filled can body and seals its perimeter. At present, known seaming operations slide the lids horizontally across the top edge of the beverage container. The seaming operation involves the use of very expensive high speed machinery and tooling.
Previously, there have been attempts to provide a drinking/dispensing tube device such as a straw in beverage containers. An example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,001, issued. Mar. 1. 1988, for inventor Serba. In this patent, the drinking straw floats on top of the beverage and has its ends bent at an angle to allow removal. However, a disadvantage with this patented device is that the end user must attempt to manually rotate the straw into position beneath the orifice by inserting a finger or other object through the sharp orifice into the container body interior. Once the straw has been positioned, the user must then grab the straw, pull it out through the orifice, straighten its convolute, then rein sen the straw back into the container body.
Another example of a drinking/dispensing tube device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,817 issued Aug. 29, 1978, for inventors Payne et al. This patent discloses a straw assembly for a liquid container in which a straw has a float mounted on its bottom end to use through the orifice once the pull-tab closure is removed. However, one disadvantage of this patented device is that the seaming process must be changed such that the lid orifice position is aligned with the straw. Such aligning is not current practice and may not be commercially feasible. Another disadvantage is that the device requires a style of lid which is now obsolete due to environmental and safety reasons. This style of lid has a tab closure which is completely removed an separated from the lid by the end-user during opening of the beverage container.
Beverage bottles containing straws and floats attached thereto within the bottle contents capped for shipment and sale have been known at least since the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,253,579 S. A. Deanes
U.S. Pat. No. 1,309,994 J. W. McAuliffe
U.S. Pat. No. 3,099,565 R. L. Neuhauser
U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,654 W. J. Brinkley III
U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,531 H. Komatsuta
Other bottles in combination with straws within bottle contents transported in the capped condition are shown in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,613,988 C. F. Jarbeau
U.S. Pat. No. 3,291,331 C. R. Brisham et al
U.S. Pat. No. 3,074,610 W. A. Pugh
Floats in combination with straws and muddlers for use in beverage glasses are shown in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,916,646 S. Tyco
U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,494 W. T. Wong
Conventionally, there has been no drink container equipped with a straw. When one desires to drink the liquid contained in a container such as a bottle and the like he takes the container up to his mouth and drinks the liquid direct from the mouth of the container, or he inserts a straw into the container and drinks the liquid through the straw. Thus, it may not be possible for him to drink quickly and smoothly.